Author's note: Life has been crazier than usual and the holidays just serve to remind me… My family is completely insane :/ Hopefully since winter break is coming up, I'll be able to update more often. A million thanks for your patience, reviews, and favorites! A special thanks to imsoproudofyou for that awesome review! Keep it up guys! Enjoy xoxo

Seven

After. After that exhaustingly long night and morning, something was… different. Besides the obvious, of course.

There was a faint visibility of the line, of the boundary she'd drawn, but even as the minutes progressed, it grew fainter.

Their days were filled with the secrets of their own little world. And she didn't know how they'd, how she'd, ever lived without this, whatever this was. She didn't know what to call it, what they were doing. But right now, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Right now, it felt like she didn't need anything else, just the two of them. Scotty and Alexia.

Boundaries, fears still lingered in dusty, dark corners, quickly fading and weakening.

Outside of the confines of her townhouse, of course, they were nothing more than colleagues and friends. The arraignment they'd both agreed to. At first.

In the recent weeks, Scotty had begun to test the boundaries at any opportunity he got. She couldn't really say she was surprised. It was his nature. If there was one thing he hated, it was to be confined to standards. She was surprised that he lasted as long as he did without testing the waters. He seemed to get a thrill out of dangling, weaving in between those boundaries.

It started off simple enough, barley noticeable to anyone who wasn't paying attention. He would stand, take a step, just a little too close to her.

Brush his hand over hers for the briefest of seconds.

Graze his hand over the small of her back on occasion. She didn't mind, at first. But her silence made him a little too brazen. One afternoon, as they were arriving at a crime scene, he tried to hold her hand. That, coupled with the fact that they did work with and were nearly constantly surrounded by a building full of very observant detectives, made her say something. And he stopped. For a couple of days. And she was almost sorry she'd said anything. But she didn't have to wait long for what happened next.

"The victim's name?" Kat asks as they walk downstairs to the archives room, their footsteps echoing in the vastness of the room.

"Stacey Kennan. 19 years old. A '92 job," Lilly says, as they walk into an aisle and begin looking over boxes. Just as they finish looking over the first aisle, a series of sharp shrills interrupts them. Lilly looks up to find Kat glancing at the phone in her hand. Kat sighs heavily, a tone of annoyance in her voice as she says, "I'll be right back. Veronica's texting me. She needs me to call her ASAP."

"Is everything okay?"

"Prince Charming, the captain of the softball team asked her out."

"You okay with that? Veronica dating?" Lilly remarks.

"Don't have much of a choice, do I? It's going to happen sooner or later. I was kinda hoping for later. Let's just say that there will be GPS trackers attached to one, or both of them in addition to some well phrased warnings. I'll be right back." Kat says with a small, tight grimace as she disappears back upstairs.

Lily shakes her head as she resumes the search for Stacey Kennan's file box. After looking through an aisle, as she turns the corner, she finds the box rather quickly, shoved on a top shelf labeled in barely legible handwriting. Pulling the box down, she places it on the nearby table before opening it. Pulling out a faded brown file, she begins to read through the case. She's so focused, she doesn't even notice someone approaching her from behind. A hand on her elbow causes her to gasp as she whirls around, coming face to face with a familiar pair of deep hazel eyes and an amused smile. Scotty.

"Hey, he says.

"You!" she says trying her best to look, at least, a slight bit annoyed as she takes a swipe at his arm. He dodges out of her reach as he chuckles.

"What are you doing down here?" she asks as he takes the file from her hand and places it back in the box. "What are you doing?"

"I missed you. And this can wait. I saw Kat leave," he murmurs as he kisses her check lightly before softly placing his lips over hers. She smiles and kisses him back, before he begins to trail kisses down the side of her face, down to the nape of her neck. Stifling a slight groan, she takes a couple of steps back, trying to distance herself from him. She doesn't want to encourage him to continue, as good as what he's doing feels. She doesn't realizes she's backed herself against the shelving units, until she feels the cool metal against her back. Shifting a bit, she leans her head back to prevent him from kissing her but that just allows him more access to her neck. She begins to kiss him back. Somehow, as they're caught up in wandering hands and lips, they stumble further down the aisles of dusty file boxes, further away from the door. A series of unusual noises emit from them both as they take turns being pressed up against the shelving units. She cannot believe those sounds are coming from her. She hasn't made those kinds of noises since high school. In fact, the last time she did anything like this, have a full blown, secretive make out session, she was a teenager. Because that's what this was. A make out session, most certainly secretive, since they were in the only room in the building that didn't have cameras besides the bathrooms. Suddenly, it dawned on her.

This was a make out session.

She was having a steamy, teenage-like, make out session with her partner, in the basement of 1PP. As a grown woman.

As a rush of heat flushes her cheeks, she suddenly and mildly reluctantly, pushes Scotty away.

"We can't do this. Especially here," She says, pausing to catch her breath.

"We're in a secured location. Out of sight. There's minimal risk that anyone will ever come down here beside anyone from the team or the Boss. Even so, we're far enough out of sight that we have some time. It's not like we're going to get caught," He says, giving her another one of his charming smiles.

"Scotty, were making out like a pair of horny teenagers. We're grown adults," She says, trying to erase the mental image of how ridiculous they must look, while simultaneously trying not to think about how much she was actually enjoying herself.

"Adults have fun too, you know Rush." He pauses for a second before adding, "Besides, you weren't exactly protesting a minute ago."

"We set boundaries…"

"No, you set boundaries Lilly. I have no problem going out there and letting the world know that I am absolutely, insanely crazy about you. Hell, if I knew you wouldn't kill me, I'd go straight to Internal Affairs and tell them. Then I'd finally get to tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine." His eyes are ablaze. She doesn't say a word but he notices, she has a look in her eyes. A swirl of amazement and intense fear, battling, strategizing potential moves in her mind. He see her battle so clearly. A struggle between running, as far away as she can, as fast as she can, and not moving, not breathing. Finally she says, "So… this is part of the deal?"

"It's not like it's going to be an everyday thing," He says pausing before saying "I'd like it to be, but I'm pretty sure you won't go for that." He gives her one of those intoxicating smiles, and she can't say no. Her eyes flicker for the briefest of seconds before she says, "I guess there's no real harm..." She pauses. "On one condition," she says, with a sparkle in her eyes.

"What? What are you doing?" he asks as she takes his hand and leads him down a couple of aisles until they're at the far left end of the room, all the way across the room from the door. She smiles, her eyes shine brightly in the dimness of their surroundings. She brushes her lips over his tauntingly. She moves slowly and deliberately, torturing him, with her every move and breath.

He feels like he's on fire.

She's… An accelerant and an extinguisher, all rolled into one.

Nearly unbearable torture and sweet relief.

She continues to torment him, her lips just out of reach. He gives her a few minutes, surrendering himself, without a counterattack. Once he's sure her guard is down, he captures her in a deep kiss. This time, he's the one who deliberately takes his time with her, memorizing every inch of her features. They stumble upon a chair, which she pushes him in, before straddling him. She shifts against him as he fights the urge to relieve both of them of the barrier of clothing between them. His fingers brush over the nape of her neck. Reaching up, he unclips her silky hair from its customary hair clip. Tumbling down, it bushes over his face as he inhales the citrusy smell of her shampoo, the sweet smell of her skin.

All of a sudden, an all too familiar voice echoes from the opposite end of the room.

"Lilly? You still down here?" Boss's voice rings out as they hear his footsteps descend down the stairs.

Her startled eyes meet his as she scrambles off his lap. Hurriedly, she straightens her clothes before rolling her hair back up into the clip. Securing her hair in place, she rushes back down the aisles to the abandoned file box as she calls out, "Over here."

Scotty is by her side in seconds. He reaches in the box, grabbing a handful of photos as she pulls out and continues to scan the file.

"Scotty. Didn't know you were down here." Boss says, walking down the aisle towards them. "Nick was looking for you. Something about you owing him lunch?"

"It's the other way around actually," Scotty says nonchalantly. "But I guess I'll treat. Chinese good with you two?" he says looking up from the photos in his hand.

"Sounds good," Boss says. Scotty places the photos back in the file box before disappearing upstairs and out of sight.

"A '92 job with new direction" Lilly comments, placing the file back in the box.

"Bring it up. Let's see what we can do." Boss says, pausing as he watches her place the lid on the box, looking at her curiously.

"Something wrong?" She asks as she picks up the box and they begin to walk towards the stairs.

"Was just going to ask you that. You okay? You look a bit flushed."

She feels her cheeks heat up as she takes a breath, saying, "I'm fine. It was just a bit hard to track down this box. You know, top shelf, scrawled label."

"Mmhm," he says as they begins to climb the stairs. "You know, for a detective, you're a horrible liar," he says as they reach the top landing.

"That's not fair, Boss," she remarks as he opens the door. ""You've got at least, what? 100 years of experience. I'm just getting started," she says teasingly.

"101 years, actually," Boss says, his eyes crinkling a bit as he smiles knowingly at her. She tries to conceal the rapidly spreading blush over her face as they make their way back to the bullpen.